{"id":807761,"date":"2026-07-18T07:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T07:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/807761\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T07:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T07:17:09","slug":"cricket-2026-justin-langer-firms-as-candidate-to-be-england-test-head-coach-brendon-mccullum-replacement-andy-flower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/807761\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket 2026: Justin Langer firms as candidate to be England Test head coach, Brendon McCullum replacement, Andy Flower"},"content":{"rendered":"

Justin Langer has firmed as an unlikely candidate to be named England\u2019s new Test head coach after Andy Flower ruled himself out of contention to replace Brendon McCullum.<\/p>\n

Watch every ball of Australia vs Bangladesh Test Series live and ad-break free during play with Fox Cricket on Kayo | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

McCullum was removed from the Test coaching position last week<\/a> and former Zimbabwe international Flower emerged as the leading candidate to take over.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But Flower, who previously led England between 2009 and 2014, is currently in charge of Indian Premier League side Royal Challengers Bengaluru as well as Hundred team London Spirit.<\/p>\n

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) managing director Rob Key spoke to Flower about the job.<\/p>\n

But the 58-year-old cited his IPL commitments, which would overlap with the early weeks of the English cricket season, as the main reason why he does not wish to be considered.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously that is a topic that\u2019s being talked about at the moment. I have spoken with the ECB. We\u2019re all aware of the vacancy for the head coach job of the England national team,\u201d he told reporters on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have spoken with Rob and the ECB on that topic. The bottom line for me is that I\u2019m very happy in the work that I\u2019m doing at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI work for a couple of really good organisations, I\u2019ve got really good teams around me, really good people around me. I\u2019m really comfortable with what I\u2019m doing at the moment.\u201d <\/p>\n

MORE: What\u2019s next for Poms after \u2018selfish\u2019 deathcult that \u2018won nothing\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Mccullum sacked as England Test Coach | 02:37<\/p>\n

Flower previously led England to number one in the world rankings and a stunning Ashes win in Australia in 2010-11 and is held in high esteem by the ECB.<\/p>\n

His decision is a blow to the ECB as they seek to move on from a challenging period, and puts Langer in an even stronger position to contend for the top job. <\/p>\n

The Telegraph UK reported<\/a> Langer is on the \u201cshortlist\u201d, with Tim Wigmore writing that while it is \u201cunimaginable\u201d that he would lead England it may be exactly what the team needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cLanger\u2019s rigour and exacting standards could give England some of what they have been lacking for the past two years in Test cricket,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

A 2-1 Test series defeat at home to New Zealand, after the 4-1 thumping in the Ashes, was followed by the retirement of Ben Stokes as captain and McCullum\u2019s removal from the Test role.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve worked with England before, as you all know. I had an amazing time when I had the privilege to be England head coach and represent England as one of their leaders a number of years ago. I remember those years really fondly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be a privilege for me or anyone else to be the Test coach. But for me at this time, I\u2019m really comfortable with what I\u2019m doing. I\u2019m going to stick with doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Justin Langer has firmed as an unlikely candidate to be named England\u2019s new Test head coach after Andy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-807761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}